Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Director Sells $122,685.60 in Stock

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ TECH traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $65.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,506,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,292,539. The company has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 65.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 3.26. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $61.16 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.73.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.57.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells life science reagents, instruments, and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Greater China, rest of Asia-Pacific, and internationally.